308 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PEIBILOF ISLANDS. 



of the fur-seal resorts above mentioned there are now not enough seals left to make it 

 worth while to attempt to capture them. At all of them the slaughter has been 

 indiscriminate and to the highest degree improvident; since, if the killing had been 

 wisely regulated, tens of thousands of seals might have been taken annually at 

 each of a dozen to twenty of the larger rookeries without any undue decrease in the 

 seal population. 



In contrast-to this maybe cited not only the history of the seal rookeries in Bering 

 Sea, but those at Lobos Island, Auckland Island, and on the west coast of South 

 Africa, where the killing has been more or less stringently regulated by the several 

 governments to whose jurisdiction these seal rookeries pertain. 



In the following pages a succinct general history is given of each of the principal 

 rookeries and fur-sealing grounds of the Southern hemisphere. 



FALKLAND ISLANDS. 



The first cargo of fur-seal skins obtained at the Falkland Islands, or probably 

 from anywhere south of the equator, appears to have been secured by the American 

 ship States, from Boston, about the year 1784. In 1792 several vessels obtained full 

 cargoes of fur-seal skins at these islands, and they were visited by one or more ves- 

 sels nearly every year as late as 1800, and subsequently at less frequent intervals till 

 the present time, as the Falkland fur seals were less abundant than at many of the 

 islands off the coast of Chile and elsewhere in the Southern seas. Yet the vessels 

 whicli lirst visited them seem to have found little difiSculty in securing good cargoes 

 of fur-seal skins. Later the rookeries became nearly exterminated. According to the 

 afBdavit of Oapt. James W. Bndington, a close season, lasting from October to April, 

 was established in 1881, but owing to the granting of licenses for killing during the 

 close season the ordinance was of little benefit to the seals. About 1886 the annual 

 catch varied from 50 to 500 skins. So far as our knowledge extends, there are still a 

 few fur seals left at these islands. 



As supplementary of the foregoing account we may quote the following, taken 

 from Venning's report,' in the department of marine and fisheries for 1895. The 

 incident seems to us to need verification, which we are unable to obtain. There is no 

 good reason why the skins could not have been taken off the coast of California, and 

 their reported similarity to skins usually " secured by the British Columbian fleet" 

 suggests this. We give the account for what it is worth. Mr. Venning reports it as 

 follows : 



Perhaps one of the most noteworthy incidents in the industry this year is the catch by the 

 schooner Director, in the North Atlantic Ocean, off Falkland Islands, of 620 seals. 



Inquiries were instituted for the purpose of collecting any information in connection with the 

 incident which might be of interest to the question of the sealing industry generally. 



It was ascertained that Capt. Frederick W. Gilbert, of tlie schooner Director, 87 tons register, 

 with a crew of 25 men, sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the 20th of December, 1894, bound for the 

 Asiatic side of the North Pacific Ocean. 



On reaching the tenth degree of sooth latitude, the master was obliged to change his course, by 

 reason of his supply of provisions and water being insufficient to enable him to complete his voyage. 



The run from Halifax to the Falkland Islands was made in forty-eight days. While off the 

 southern end of the islands he encountered several groups of seals. He consequently devoted thirty- 

 six days to sealing in that neighborhood, as well as off the east and west end of Staten Island, result- 

 ing in the capture of 620 seals, which he took to the port of Victoria. 



' Pamphlet entitled "The Bering Sea Question," etc. Venning, 1895, p. 15. 



